The Dark Age
by ringanybells
Summary: Season 2, Episode 8. Before Buffy can face Giles after the events in the costume shop, Angel helps her to deal with her new perceptions. Episode companion. B/A


She watched Giles' back as he disappeared out the door. She was used to being the most important person in his life, but these last two days had shown her how much distance truly existed between herself and her Watcher. She'd never thought to ask about his past, never imagined it could hold something like this. She'd always pictured him as the upright, reliable man she knew now, she had trouble imagining him in the same position she found herself in- chosen, for a destiny he didn't want.

Now that he was in a relationship, with Ms. Calendar, she was no longer the center of his attention. She didn't mind that so much, she wanted Giles to be happy. But his affection for the other teacher had almost gotten him killed; Buffy should have never allowed Giles to leave the library that afternoon. But he had played the adult card, told her to butt out, and then used Jenny as an excuse to leave. A shiver shot down Buffy's spine at the thought of what could have happened.

Angel felt the shiver go through Buffy from his place next to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder to pull her attention back to the present. She turned to face him and was momentarily lost in his eyes. He had risked his existence for her Watcher because he cared for her, because he loved her. He had been willing to put his own life on the line. His eyes spoke volumes and she almost missed his whispered words, "Are you alright?'

She allowed her confusion to melt away for the moment. A chuckle escaped her mouth, "You're asking me? Which one of us just went 13 rounds? I should be worrying about you." Her voice softened as she spoke her last sentence, to show that she did, in fact, care.

"I'm fine." Angel's voice held firm, anyone else would be fooled. She saw the truth in his eyes.

"Come on, guys. This place gives me the creeps." It was true. She spent her nights roaming cemeteries and stalking sewers. But being in the abandoned costume shop had the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.

She and her friends headed for the door, turning toward Cordelia's car, which was parked a block up the street. The group said their goodbyes and the three Sunnydale natives climbed into Cordelia's car, she'd volunteered to drop Willow and Xander off on her way home. Buffy still had patrolling to do. She watched her friends disappear around the corner at breakneck speed.

Once the red car was out of sight, Buffy turned to Angel, "I guess I should get going- duty calls." She tried to sound relaxed, but she didn't want to leave him. Seeing the internal battle he'd just went through had her desperately wanting to stay in his arms for the rest of the night. But it was for that exact reason she refused to ask him to join her, she had already asked so much of him tonight.

He turned to her, looked deep into her eyes. He could read the desperate longing in them, felt it mirrored in his own soul. "Would you like some company?"

Her heart rate increased, and she knew that he could discern the excitement and pleasure in it. She tried to play it off though, "You don't have too. I can go it alone."

A smirk spread across his face, and he leaned into place a kiss to her forehead. "I want too."

He took her hand and they moved off toward the nearest cemetery. It always amazed her how perfectly synched their movements seemed to be. They didn't need to speak, or plan, it was like their bodies were one. To watch them fight was like watching poetry, you couldn't tell where he ended and she began. This was one of the things that showed her how right for her Angel was. Despite the fact that by their very natures they should be incompatible, they seemed to fit together perfectly.

After a few minutes of silence, she felt a small tug on her hand. Angel had stopped walking. She turned around and met his gaze, almost immediately regretting it. Angel could read her eyes too well; this conversation would have been easier if she could have just given him the lies. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or am I going to have to guess?"

She was tempted for all of two seconds to tell him to guess. It would have been childish, but it might have given her a slight chance to prepare her thoughts. She swallowed down her pride and reservations. Despite the rocks they'd encountered in their relationship, Angel was her guy. She trusted him with her life and he was there to help her deal with everything. He might even be the best person to talk to about this. They had already had to deal with the demons from his past, maybe he could help her deal with those from Giles' past as well.

She took her hand from him and walked to the nearest bench, sinking down into it. Angel, knowing that she was in need of his understanding, followed suit. When he joined her on the bench, she turned to face him, picking his hand up again. "I should be used to meeting the demons from people's pasts. It seems to keep happening. I never really imagined that Giles would have those kinds of demons though. He's supposed to be the constant, steady thing in my life. And today, I just, everything is different now." She tried to be as honest with Angel, and with herself, as possible. She just hoped that Angel didn't think she sounded like a whiny child.

"He still is, you know. The steady thing in your life that you can count on, that doesn't change just because you find out he has a past. Everyone has a past, Buffy, you should know that better than anyone. I mean, look at the two of us. You weren't always the Slayer, I wasn't always a vampire. Doesn't it make sense that Giles wasn't always a Watcher?"

"It does. And it's my own fault for never taking the opportunity to ask him about it before."

"I have a feeling he wouldn't have been in a show and tell mood with this particular material."

"Probably not, but if I had made the effort, it wouldn't have been such a shock. I could have handled it better."

"All things considered, you handled things fairly well. I'm usually pretty good at reading people, and even I never thought Giles was hiding that."

"But I'm his Slayer, it should be different between us."

"He loves you, Buffy. It's hardest to share the mistakes of our past with those who mean the most to us. We're too afraid of rejection, of being left. Giles didn't want that part of his life coming out, because that's not who he is any more. He's worked hard to become someone his Slayer can rely on and trust. I'd bet anything that he wanted nothing to jeopardize your faith in him."

"Who's to say anything would have? It's not so much that he has a past that bothers me. It's more the fact that it tried to kill me, that really gets to me. Instead of fessing up to everything in the beginning, he played the part of the stodgy Brit and he hid the truth. He went all hermit on me and tried to pretend everything was fine. And what did it get us? His girlfriend nearly got killed and I got initiated into the chain gang." She unconsciously moved her hand to her neck, feeling the tattoo. The skin around it still burned and she could feel the heat emanating off of her skin.

Angel's eyes shrunk in confusion. She realized that in all the excitement, no one had noticed her new ink. Angel moved her hand and craned his neck in order to get a look at the mark. She heard the low growl in his chest. "That guy Ethan did this?"

"Yea, he was using it as a way to get Eyghon off his trail. It worked too. When the thing showed up, it barely gave Rayne a second glance, not once it felt the mark on me."

Angel's eyes were still locked on the mark. He too could feel the heat radiating off of Buffy's skin, and it bothered him. He didn't like the thought of any demon marking Buffy. "Does it hurt?"

"Only in a searing, painful kind of way," she answered truthfully. "It's okay, Angel. Luckily the whole Slayer gig comes with a high threshold for pain; otherwise I'd be in real trouble." She shrugged her shoulders, hoping to show him that she was fine.

He slowly raised his hand and brought it around to the back of her neck. He placed his hand above the tattoo, gently running his fingers over it. He leaned in and blew on it, hoping to alleviate some of the pain, knowing that his non-breath would not have much of an effect. His desire to sooth her pain had brought his face right next to hers, a simple turn of his face and their lips would meet. He moved to pull back.

She was quicker than he was. She put a hand to his cheek and turned his head for him. As soon as she had a clear angle, she pressed her lips to his. He couldn't help but respond. Her arms went around his neck, even as his moved to her waist. He exerted the slightest bit of pressure on her hips, trying to resist the urge to pull her closer. She had plans of her own though. She swung her leg over his lap and pulled herself flush against him, now sitting in his lap.

They sat like that until her need to breath caused her to pull back. He had no such problems and slowly trailed kisses down the side of her neck. His grip on her waist tightened ever so slightly and couldn't help the barely noticeable twitch in her thigh muscles. Once again his lips sought hers out. She licked his bottom lip and his mouth opened in response. As their kiss grew more passionate, her right hand detangled itself from his hair. It traveled down his arm until it settled on top of his own on her waist. The pressure from her hand caused his left hand to leave her waist, and instead entwine itself with hers.

Buffy's thigh muscles clenched again, every so slightly, but it was enough to bring Angel out of his passion induced haze. He slowly broke the kiss, pulling his head back but not removing either hand from Buffy. He reveled in the sound of her fast breathing for a moment, the intake of which caused her chest to meet his. "Did that make it feel any better?" He asked hoping to melt some of the sexual tension away by lightening the mood.

Her voice was low, she still hadn't quite recovered from the lack of oxygen. "Not really. Instead of just the back of my neck burning, I'm on fire everywhere else." She let the honest words slip out. She didn't disapprove of that particular change at all.

"Sorry, I guess we got a little carried away." He said the words with a low chuckle, knowing it had been more than a little.

"Yea, I guess." She looked up to meet his eyes; she could see the love in them. "It helped though, with everything else. It's nice to have something so nice to make all the other horrible, crazy things go away, even if it's only for a few minutes."

"I'm happy to help, anytime you need it." He leaned and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. He wasn't trying to restart their make out session, however badly he may want too. They still had patrolling to do, and she needed to catch a few Zs in order to function tomorrow.

"Thank you, Angel, for everything. It's nice to know that Giles isn't the only person I can depend on. What you did for him, for us tonight." She swallowed, choked by the strength of her feelings for him. "You have no idea what it means to me."

"Hush, Buffy, you don't need to thank me."

"I know. But I wanted you to know. I love you." She leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek.

"I love you, too."

They stood then, once again holding hands. They moved slowly through the rows of tombstones, slowly working east through Sunnydale. When they came near to Buffy's house, Angel once again tugged her arm, pulling her around to face him. "You go ahead home. I'll hit the last one alone. You've had a long day."

"Are you sure, I hate leaving you out here alone."

"I think I can take care of myself, but thanks for the concern," a smile crossed his lips as he responded. "Do you want to meet tomorrow night at Shady Hill? We can start patrol there around ten?" He didn't like her patrolling alone, Slayer strength or not. He liked to be there to have her back.

"Sounds good, I'll bring the picnic basket." She slowly wrapped her arms around his waist, even as his slid around her. They stood on the corner like that for several minutes, just basking in each others' presence.

"When you see Giles, go easy on him, okay? He's probably beating himself up for putting you in more danger than you already have to face." He knew that the Watcher cared for Buffy almost as much as he himself did. With Spike and Drusilla in town, Angel constantly feared what havoc they might cause, how they might hurt Buffy. He was terrified that his past would cause Buffy harm, and he was sure the Watcher shared his feelings this evening.

"I know. I just thought that grown ups were supposed to have everything figured out, have everything under control. Sometimes I forget that they're people too, and that once upon a time they suffered from that which we call being a teen."

"Exactly," he leaned forward and placed a kiss on Buffy's forehead. "Good night, I love you."

"I love you. Be careful, Angel." They slowly disentangled themselves. Buffy moved off toward her house, reaching the tree and swinging up into its branches. Angel watched from the corner of her street until he saw her silhouetted in the window. She paused a moment and looked back to the corner, aglow with the yellow light from the overhead lamppost. She could make out Angel's form. Their eyes met for just a second, each taking a final chance to memorize the other. Then he turned and walked away, his form fading into the shadows too quickly for her own piece of mind. She hated sending him off alone, even if he could take care of himself. She yearned to be back in the comfort of his strong arms. She took a deep breath, she would see him again tomorrow evening.

She changed quickly into her pajamas and silently moved down the hall to brush her teeth. She returned to her bedroom and climbed into bed. She was asleep almost as her head hit the pillow, once again in Angel's arms.


End file.
